Related Experiment Videos
Development and malformations of the human pyramidal tract.
H J ten Donkelaar1, M Lammens, P Wesseling
1Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, P. O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. H.tenDonkelaar@neuro.umcn.nl
Journal of Neurology
|January 13, 2005
Summary
The corticospinal tract, crucial for motor control, undergoes complex development with potential for malformations. Understanding its developmental disorders is key to addressing neurological conditions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Neuroanatomy
Background:
- The corticospinal tract is the primary motor pathway, developing over an extended period.
- Rodent and primate corticospinal tract development show species-specific timing, with primates developing largely prenatally.
- Gene involvement in pyramidal tract development is increasingly recognized in mice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the developmental process of the corticospinal tract.
- To explore malformations associated with this motor pathway.
- To discuss the spectrum of developmental disorders affecting the pyramidal tract.
Main Methods:
- Review of neuropathological and clinical literature.
- Analysis of autopsy cases.
- Synthesis of data on corticospinal tract development and malformations.
Main Results:
- Corticospinal tract development involves extensive initial projections that are selectively eliminated.
- Direct corticomotoneuronal projections are late-developing components.
- Variations and malformations, including uncrossed pyramidal tracts, occur during development.
- Pyramidal tract malformations are linked to cortical patterning, neurogenesis, migration, white matter injury, and axon guidance defects.
Conclusions:
- The human pyramidal tract likely develops similarly to other mammals, with a prolonged maturation process.
- A wide range of developmental disorders can involve pyramidal tract malformations.
- Abnormal axon guidance and molecular mechanisms underlie some of these malformations.